Every so often, the baseball diamond becomes the stage for a truly mesmerizing performance that etches itself into the annals of sports history. On April 29, 2025, Brandon Nimmo of the New York Mets delivered such a spectacle, turning a regular season game into a story for the ages—and one for collectible keepsakes, thanks to Topps NOW.
Stepping up to bat against the somewhat beleaguered pitching line-up of the Washington Nationals, Nimmo transformed into a veritable whirlwind of productivity, driving in a staggering nine runs. The game ended with a triumphant 19-5 victory for the Mets, largely carried on the shoulders—and the bat—of their formidable outfielder.
This superlative display didn’t just earn Nimmo his deserved spotlight; it sent Topps into a whirlwind of their own to launch a limited-edition trading card to commemorate the occasion. And lucky for Topps—and indeed, for collectors all across the baseball fandom—timing was on their side. Hours after Nimmo’s last RBI found its way into the stat books, Topps NOW had already begun rolling out the limited edition card, a tangible memory encased in glittering plastic for purchase.
Would-be buyers and die-hard collectors didn’t have much time to ponder this new prized entry to their collections. The card was priced at a modest $11.99 but came with the caveat of urgency—it would be available for just 24 hours, with the sales window closing the afternoon after his standout performance. It’s unsurprising, then, that the virtual line for this piece of memorabilia could rival any brick-and-mortar Black Friday sale, albeit conducted in the digital queues of the Topps website.
Nimmo, at 32 years old, showcased an electric combination of skill and fortune few players get to experience in the major leagues. Collecting four hits, he peppered the scoreboard with his name, thrilling the crowd with two home runs, and personally crossing home plate four times. His RBIs—a jaw-dropping nine in total—came in a blitz of offense within just three innings, a feat so remarkable that it hoists him up onto a platform shared by just two others in the lengthy compendium of baseball records.
This was more than just a flash-in-the-pan day at the plate; for a player who has donned the Mets jersey with grit and passion, it was a coronation. For the organization, it was another chapter written in their storied history, one filled with its ups and downs but punctuated by flashes of brilliance like Nimmo’s that keep fans coming back for more.
And speaking of storied memorabilia, the card itself isn’t just another item for fans to pull out at trivia nights. It’s a commented artifact, as fleeting in its existence as the game it celebrates. Alongside the standard edition, Topps took the opportunity to add layers of allure by releasing special foil parallels limited to just 50 copies and below. As icing on the collectible cake, die-hard fans could also vie for autographed versions with extremely limited runs—some as rare as one-of-one FoilFractor.
This combination of scarcity and sheer brilliance of the game immortalized on the card makes it not merely a collectible but rather an instant heirloom of the New York Mets dynasty. Landing a card from this limited release provided collectors with a piece of history, a tactile representation of the night Nimmo commanded the lights at Citi Field and enchanted a host of loyal fans.
Players like Brandon Nimmo come along rarely, their feats echoing beyond the confines of one game. And where he goes from here, both on the field and in the memories invoked by this collection of cards, will draw interest and speculation in equal measure. In the world of baseball collectibles—where stories are spun with as much gusto as any statistic—it’s a testament to Topps’ cunning and Nimmo’s sheer talent that a slice of baseball magic was caught mid-flight and tucked lovingly onto glossy rectangles, all in the blink of an inning.
